Microcellular plastics are specially fabricated to create micro-pore cells in polymers matrix which has three basic elements, induce a thermodynamic instability, create a gas/polymer solution and control the diffusion growth of stable nuclei. Microcellular plastics in comparison to conventional plastics can be used to reduce material consumption and cost of raw materials. Microcellular plastics are produced using environment friendly gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide which is expected to reduce the consumption of regular plastics foam processes which causes a lot of hazardous emissions in the coming years. Along with light weight it has various other properties such as thermal insulation, sound insulation, cushion, energy absorption, filtration, selective light transmission and diffusion and tissue engineering scaffolds which gives a competitive edge to the product. Major applications of microcellular and nanoparticles are food & packaging, biomedical, transportation, electronics, toys, and construction.

Although it has sustainable and biodegradable properties but it has very less commercial utilization because of high material cost, narrow range of processing units and inferior material properties. With the increase in demand for high performance materials in end-use industries it is expected to improve the market growth for microcellular plastics market across the globe. But this market heavily depends on the research and development of innovative microcellular plastics which can be produced for the commercial market standard.

Europe and U.S. are expected to dominate the microcellular plastic demand owing to increase in demand for high performance micro particles and also due to the major presence of these companies are found from these regions. However with the increase in medical industry and infrastructure development in the emerging countries it is expected that the market will show significant demand in Asia Pacific as well as in Latin America. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market of microcellular plastics in terms of consumption.

Some of the major companies operating in the global microcellular plastics market include Microgreen Polymers, ABC Group, Horizon Plastics, Gracious Living Innovations, Industrial Thermo Polymers, Canadian General Towers, Ingenia Polymers, Total Plastics solutions, Lavergne Group, Camoplast Polymer Solutions, Sealed Air and Mastercore.